Jammu/Srinagar

The Bharatiya Janata Party staged a protest in Jammu and Srinagar on Wednesday against the National Conference-led Jammu and Kashmir government over the Assembly resolution on statehood, including autonomy. The BJP accused the government of passing the resolution without adequate discussion and failing to fulfil its election promises.

Hundreds of BJP workers, led by party MP Jugal Kishore Sharma and other senior leaders, gathered at Kachi Chawani and marched in the area, raising slogans against the National Conference (NC) and the government.

In Srinagar, the BJP protested outside its head office in Jawahar Nagar.  Speaking to reporters, BJP J-K spokesperson Altaf Thakur said the NC government was raising these issues to divert attention from public welfare.

The protesters demanded Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's resignation and the dissolution of the government, alleging that the Assembly resolution sought to revive provisions of greater autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir, which the NDA government rejected years ago.

BJP workers also burned the chief minister's effigy during the protest. Police and paramilitary personnel were deployed in large numbers along the protest route.

Sharma alleged that BJP legislators were not given adequate opportunity to participate in the discussion on the resolution and were forcibly removed from the Assembly when they raised objections.

"Our legislators fought strongly against the government inside the Assembly and forced the government to ensure that the resolution was not passed in the manner it wanted as assembly rules," he said.

"The NC government has passed the resolution by force. The people of the country and Jammu and Kashmir will never accept this," Sharma said.

"We demand resignation of the chief minister and his government," he said. He also questioned the role of the Assembly Speaker, alleging that the BJP legislators were not given due treatment in the House.

"The role of the Speaker in the Assembly is under a cloud of suspicion,"he said.

The BJP MP accused the NC government of failing to fulfil its electoral promises to provide jobs and supply gas cylinders. "The promises that were made to the people have not been fulfilled. To divert people's attention, the NC government is talking about other issues and brought a resolution on statehood including autonomy rejected by NDA government years ago," he told reporters here.

BJP leader Thakur said no power on earth can restore Article 370 or autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir.  "This is a total anti-national attempt by the NC government. We demand registration of an FIR against it. Action should be taken against this Pakistani agenda being implemented," he said in Srinagar.

Sharma alleged that the government was attempting to divert public attention from pressing issues and said the BJP would oppose any move that, according to it, could revive conditions associated with the period of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir.

"We will never accept this. Till the statehood is restored and full powers are given, we will continue to raise these issues," Sharma said.

He demanded that the government focus on employment, electricity, water supply and the rights of different sections of society instead of concentrating primarily on political resolutions. The protesters also accused the government of failing to adequately address the concerns of unemployed youth and other sections seeking their rights.

The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly on Monday passed a resolution seeking urgent restoration of full statehood, including autonomy amid a walkout by the opposition BJP. Abdullah moved the resolution.

"In addition to the resolutions passed by this House on June 26, 2000 and November 6, 2024, the House calls upon the Government of India for the immediate and urgent restoration of full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and resolves that this resolution be forwarded to the Government of India," the resolution read.

The NC-led government, headed by Farooq Abdullah, passed a resolution on June 26, 2000, calling for the restoration of the greater autonomy that existed before August 9, 1953.

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On November 6, 2024, the House passed a resolution seeking to restore special status.